Fantasy Films

HISTORY

One of the first filmmakers associated with fantasy film was the French
filmmaker Georges Méliès (1861–1938), who used trick
photography and elaborate sets to create fantastic stories such as
Le voyage dans la lune
(
A Trip to the Moon
, 1902). As longer feature films developed in the silent era, a smattering
of science fiction and fantasy narratives appeared such as
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea
(1916), and
The Thief of Bagdad
(1924), which starred the silent film idol Douglas Fairbanks
(1883–1939). In Germany, directors such as Robert Wiene
(1873–1938), Fritz Lang (1890–1976), and F. W. Murnau
(1888–1931) set the stage for a darker type of fantasy associated
with German Expressionism. Highly influential to the horror genre, these
disturbing tales of evil and supernatural forces included such classics as
Das Kabinett des Doktor Caligari
(
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
, 1920),
Metropolis
(1927), and the vampire movie
Nosferatu
(1922), known for its chilling visuals and trick photography. Hans
Richter (b. 1919) took a more experimental approach to special effects,
using stop-motion animation in
Vormittagsspuk
(
Ghosts before Breakfast
, 1928), a short avant-garde film that featured flying bowler hats and
other inanimate objects brought to life.

Jean Cocteau.

The advent of sound film in 1927 was accompanied by innovations in special
effects, creating new possibilities for cinematic fantasy. Though not as
dark or gruesome as the German silent films, Hollywood's spate of
monster and horror films in the 1930s, such as
Dracula
(1931) and
Frankenstein
(1931), used a similar bag of special effects tricks, including
miniatures and stop-motion photography to create fantastical creatures
such as the ape in
King Kong
, created by special-effects pioneer Willis O'Brien
(1886–1962). On a lighter note, the 1940 remake of
The Thief of Bagdad
delighted audiences with its vibrant colors and fantastic scenarios.
Fantasy also benefited hugely from the special effects wizardry of
O'Brien's protégé Ray Harryhausen (b. 1920)
and from George Pal (1908–1980), who produced and directed
Tom Thumb
(1958),
The 7th Voyage of Sinbad
(1958), and
Jason and the Argonauts
(1963).

By the 1950s, science fiction had emerged as a major genre in its own
right. Playing on fears of nuclear holocaust and anxiety associated with
space travel, most science fiction films used special effects to create
frightening aliens from outer space or monsters created by atomic
radiation. During the same period, Hollywood audiences were treated to
The Thing From Another World
(1951),
The Blob
(1958), and a host of alien invasions. Japanese filmmakers introduced
their own infamous monster in
Gojira
(
Godzilla, King of the Monsters
, 1954).

The confluence of sound, special effects and Technicolor could also yield
a more light-hearted type of fantasy, as evidenced by the perennially
popular musical,
The Wizard of Oz
(1939). Combining song and dance within a fairy-tale narrative, the film
drew on the conventions and sensibilities of the musical, a genre known
for creating its own particular versions of utopian and romantic fantasy.
Musical fantasy also became a common element in many Indian films, such as
Awaara
(
The Vagabond
, 1951) by Raj Kapoor.

The combination of music and fantasy has long been a hallmark of Disney
films. Perhaps best known for its work in animation, Disney has
specialized in fantasy stories since its inception, with a heavy emphasis
on musicals and children's fare. Classics such as
Pinocchio
(1940) and
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
(1937), hailed as the first full-length animated film, were precursors to
the recent trend in animated musicals like
The Little Mermaid
(1989). While many fantasy films are intended for youthful audiences and
are derived directly or indirectly from children's books or fairy
tales, some successfully operate on the adult level as well. The term
"family film" often denotes films like
Shrek
(2001) that appeal to all ages by combining fantasy worlds with clever
animation and more sophisticated humor.

Children's stories, fairy tales, and myths have influenced many
American fantasy films, yet other cinematic strands of fantasy could be
found in the "art" films of Europe, which often featured
innovative, complex, and sometimes disturbing fantasies. Eschewing
narrative coherence, the Surrealists used vivid set pieces, special
effects, and montage to explore the possibilities of cinema as an
expression of subversive and subconscious impulses. In France, the
Spanish-born Salvador Dali (1904–1989) and Luis Buñuel
(1900–1983) collaborated to produce
Un chien Andalou
(
An Andalusian Dog
, 1929), a short experimental piece that has retained its ability to shock
and disorient film viewers. In 1930, the two applied their artistic
sensibility to the politically explosive feature
L'age d'or
(
The Golden Age
).

Avant-garde and experimental filmmakers pushed the boundaries of cinematic
expression, but fantasy also continued to flourish in more traditional
forms. Drawing on his earlier explorations of surreal effects, Jean
Cocteau (1889–1963) applied his imaginative skills to the creation
of a classic fairy tale,
La belle et la bête
(
Beauty and the Beast
, 1946). Current audiences are familiar with Disney's animated
version of the story, but for many, Cocteau's black-and-white,
live-action fantasy remains the quintessential version.

Jean Cocteau is perhaps best known for his classic fantasy film,
La belle et la bête
(
Beauty and the Beast
, 1946), based on the fairy tale by Madame Leprince de Beaumont. The
multi-talented Cocteau was a painter, poet, and dramatist who is also
remembered for his experiments in surrealist and avant-garde techniques.

Founded in the early 1920s, the Surrealist movement concerned itself
with the connection between reality and fantasy, rationality and the
unconscious. By harnessing and combining these opposing spheres, the
Surrealists attempted to create a kind of "super-reality"
characterized by disturbing, irrational, and dream-like images. While
many employed shocking images in order to critique the status quo,
Cocteau devoted himself to the aesthetic ramifications of the movement.
In
Le Sang d'un poète
(
The Blood of a Poet
, 1932), Cocteau used special effects to create a disjointed,
expressionistic commentary on the angst of the artist. Inspired by the
myth of Orpheus, this short experimental film used dream-like images to
suggest the sacrifices that the artist makes in the service of art.

In
Beauty and the Beast
, Cocteau created a more traditional, full-length narrative. Starring
Jean Marais and Josette Day, this beautiful black-and-white film tells
the story of a young woman who finds herself a prisoner of a strange
man/beast in atonement for her father's theft of a rose from the
Beast's garden. Beauty is frightened by the growling Beast and by
the enchanted manor he inhabits. Bodiless human hands usher Beauty into
the castle and magically serve her dinner, while lifeless statues
periodically awaken to observe her actions. Cocteau used simple but
clever mechanical effects to create these and other celebrated moments
of cinematic fantasy. Ultimately, Beauty and the Beast come to love one
another, and when the Beast is killed at the end of the film, he turns
into a prince as he and Beauty fly into the sky in a romantic embrace.
Jean Marais plays three characters here: the Beast, the Prince, and
Beauty's original suitor (Avenant), who simultaneously changes
into the Beast just as the Beast is transformed into the Prince.

In
Orphée
(
Orpheus
, 1950), Cocteau returned to the mythological theme of his first film,
updating the story and creating a full-length narrative with a surreal
bent. Set in modern-day France and once again starring Jean Marais, the
film tells the story of Orpheus and his lover Eurydice as he follows her
into the underworld following her death. Here and in other films,
Cocteau employed a mirror motif to connote either a window into a
distant place or a portal into another world. Continuing his obsession
with the role of the artist, Cocteau rounded out his trilogy of Orpheus
films in 1960 with
Le Testament d' Orphée
(
The Testament of Orpheus
), in which he appeared as himself.

Beauty and the Beast
earned Cocteau the Prix Louis Delluc as well as a number of prizes at
the Cannes Film Festival. Cocteau was elected to the French Academy in
1955.

Elsewhere, Sweden's Ingmar Bergman (b. 1918) was responsible for a
number of surreal films, such as
Det sjunde inseglet
(
The Seventh Seal
, 1957), in which a knight returns from the Crusades and challenges Death
to a chess game. In Italy, Federico Fellini (1920–1993) broke from
the neorealist movement to produce his disjointed, dreamlike classics
8½
(1963) and
Giulietta degli spiriti
(
Juliet of the Spirits
, 1965). And in Japan, Kenji Mizoguchi (1898–1956) produced the
ghostly
Ugetsu monogatari
(1953).

Beginning in the late 1970s, Hollywood experienced a renewed interest in
science fiction and fantasy, stoked in part by the films of George Lucas
(b. 1944) and Steven Spielberg (b. 1946).
Star Wars
(1977) and
E. T.: the Extraterrestrial
(1982) were among the many popular films to whet movie-goers'
appetites for a more upbeat type of science fiction than had been popular
in the 1950s and 1960s.
Star Wars
drew inspiration from
Kakushi-toride no san-akunin
(
The Hidden Fortress
, 1958), directed by the well-known Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa. The
1980s also saw a spate of medieval sword and sorcery films, spurred by the
popularity of the role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons. While films such
as
Dragonslayer
(1981) and
Ladyhawke
(1985) were not widely popular, they paved the way for the hugely
successful
Lord of the Rings
trilogy, the first of which premiered in 2001. That same year, the
runaway success of the Harry Potter children's books spawned the
franchise for another film series about magic and heroism with
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
(2001).

In the 1990s,
Ghost
(1990) emerged as the most popular among a series of supernatural
melodramas that eschewed horror for comic or dramatic stories. Even
The Sixth Sense
(1999), which initially presented itself as horror/suspense, eventually
revealed itself to be more of a melodrama in the tradition of
Ghost
(1990),
Always
(1989), and
Truly Madly Deeply
(1991). Many supernatural melodramas drew inspiration from earlier films.
City of Angels
(1998) was a mainstream remake of the art film
Der Himmel über Berlin
(
Wings of Desire
, 1987), directed by the German filmmaker Wim Wenders (b. 1945).
The Preacher's Wife
(1996),
Michael
(1996), and
Meet Joe Black
(1998) provided variations on a type of non-horror, supernatural film
that had experienced popularity in the 1930s and 1940s—for example,
The Bishop's Wife
(1947),
Here Comes Mr. Jordan
(1941), and
Death Takes a Holiday
(1934).

In the United States and elsewhere, it was computer-generated imagery
(CGI) that most affected the look and feel of cinematic fantasy in the
1980s and 1990s. The technology didn't truly come of age until the
underwater fantasy
The Abyss
(1989) and later
Toy Story
(1995), an "animated" film made completely with computer
imagery. Also notable for their reliance on CGI were the highly successful
Jurassic Park
(1993),
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
(1991),
Forrest Gump
(1994), and
The Mask
(1994).
The Matrix
(1999) introduced a striking new approach to the choreography of action
and fight sequences.
The Matrix
was heavily influenced by martial arts specialists in Hong Kong and
China, including John Woo (b. 1946) and the Vietnamese-born Tsui Hark (b.
1950), whose popular action/fantasies such as
Suk san: Sun Suk san geen hap
(
Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain
, 1983) have earned him comparison to Spielberg.
The Matrix
also drew inspiration from Japanese anime films such as Mamoru
Oshii's (b. 1951)
Kô kaku kidôtai
(
Ghost in the Shell
, 1995). One of the first anime films to make an impact on Hollywood was
Katsushiro Otomo's (b. 1954) violent techno-fantasy,
Akira
(1988). And although Hayao Miyazaki's (b. 1941)
Mononoke-hime
(
Princess Mononoke
, 1997) and
Sen to chihiro no kamikakushi
(
Spirited Away
, 2001) have not been widely viewed in the United States, their box-office
success in Japan has helped make anime fantasy a major movement in
international cinema.